Set Your Heart Ablaze

Our fellow Christians often don't have kind words for us, and the church has yet to understand our need for ministry and companionship, so the temptation to join in and wish one another a "Happy Pride" can be strong. After all, when the church often has nothing good or helpful to say to us, we want to lean in the other direction in order to encourage one another. Because sometimes it feels like its just us against both the church and the world. But instead of celebrating disordered love, let's celebrate God's perfect love. Even if other people find our attraction repulsive and mind-boggling, He loves us for who we are and He remember's our frame. He knows that we are only dust with an innate need to be loved by one another.

                However, the Bible does not support such an attitude.  Jesus was not even criticizing the man’s wealth in that passage.  In fact, we can see the example Jesus set for us regarding our attitudes towards the rich: “Jesus looked at him and loved him.” (Mark 10:21)

                Jesus loved him.

                And that is treated glibly.  “Yes, yes, Jesus loved him, He loves everyone.  Now, money please!”  Do you treat people you love like that? Do you go up to your friends and demand them to give you things of theirs that you don’t have, or don’t have more of?  Do you get upset with your friends for having more?  If someone approached you with the same attitude and manner as you have towards rich people, and demanded you give them something of yours to make things fair in their eyes, would you be open to it or put off?

                If the latter, perhaps Jesus’s example is not being followed.  Jesus stating that it was difficult for the rich to enter heaven was not a criticism of wealth but a lament for the rich.  He was lamenting the difficulty.  He was lamenting how many of them would not be with Him in glory.  If we are out demanding them to be good and generous people -according to our own standards- are we reflecting that lament?  Or lusting after material riches?  Tearing down someone out of envy?

                The problem was not the man’s wealth.  It was his heart.  He had built for himself a treasure of material wealth, a comfortable lifestyle he could afford, and Jesus was not worth more than that.

                What would you leave behind for Jesus?  More importantly, what would you put in your suitcase as you packed to follow Him?  The moment we say “But I need-“ how are we better than the rich man?  Do we think ourselves better because we aren’t considered rich by our culture’s standards?

                “But I need food, I need methods of communication, I need medical things, I need clothes-“ Did not Jesus already address this?  Does God not know your needs better than you?  If Jesus called you to follow Him and leave everything behind, is there no trust that He will meet those needs?

                The disciples left everything, even their livelihood.  Peter even reminds Jesus of this fact after the rich man leaves.  If we want to consider ourselves on par with them, would we leave in the middle of our work day, on foot, with nothing on us but the clothes on our backs, if He called us?  Or would we first return home to pack a bag?

                Jesus loved the rich man.  His command wasn’t a special command for the rich.  It showed where the man’s heart was at.  And it should reveal where we are.  If there is something we would hold back or keep, we are more like the rich man.

                Jesus loved the rich man.  He did not hate or scorn him.  He was not setting an income limit on heaven.  He loved the rich man and wanted him to follow Him.

                Do we want the same?  Do we want the rich to get to heaven too, or are we rather focused on what they should be giving?  Do we wish that they would desire Jesus just as much as us, or are we hoping that they become Christian so they might be convicted to get rid of their income?

                If we are not doing what we would have them do, do we love them or their wealth?

                If our excuse is that we do not have as much as they, then perhaps we should reflect on how we are more closely related to the rich man then the disciples.   For in Acts, we see the believers, regardless of their wealth, sharing everything that they had.

                If we have given up everything as the disciples, we should look to Paul’s caution: “And if I give away all my possessions to charity, and I surrender my body so that I may glory, but do not have love, it does me no good.”

                Jesus loved the rich man.

“Octopus,” she said, all curls and smiles.

“And what kind of animal is an octopus?” I asked.  I was looking for “fish” or “sea creature” but I would have accepted almost anything–”weird,” “gross,” even “slimy.”  “Underwater” or “it lives in the ocean” would have also been acceptable. 

She looks me right in the eye and says, happy as a clam, “It’s a cephalopod.”

"you look great!" - normal. Anyone could say this. Could be true or could just be lying to be nice. Very normal expected thing to say to someone

“What about … “

Let me know where I lost you:  You can’t mix Christianity with other religious beliefs.